Thought I would do a different kind of blog today and do a sort of timetable of my day (Barney’s day would sound a bit different). It wasn’t a typical day by any means, but then I don’t think we really have typical days. Here we go:
6am: Alarm goes off. Put heater on. 6.30: Get up and wrap up warm. Make the coffee. Put up the table (inside).
Have breakfast with B, visit ablutions block and ask
member of staff to light donkey so B can have a shower. Have a quick wash in the kitchen sink and dress. Tidy away stuff we have left around inside and out. Dry the dishes etc and put them away. Collect dry laundry from line, fold and put it away. Put drinks and other
items for the journey into “cab-bag”. Do my bits of the “pre-flight checks”. Put on boots and visit the bathroom.
8.45: Set off. 8.50: See pale chanting goshawk and a striped polecat eating roadkill.
9.03: See secretary bird. All day - clouds of small birds lifting up as we passed. Think they are mostly sociable weavers. Huge weaver nests/colonies in many of the trees.
9.06: First springbok sighting of the day. This group all start pronking (look it up) as we go by. Start to see a few random red dunes. All day beautiful arid vistas. Purple road, bleached grass, dotted green trees. Horizon of hazy rocky hills. Road signs saying “wind”, “sand”. Farm animals. 9.11: First ostrich sighting of the day.
9.45: Junction and a discussion about route. We take the C27. Terrible road: bumpy and noisy – we can’t hear each other speak. An endurance test. I have to hold on to my boobs.
10.10: Now in the rocky hills. Pee and drink stop outside Toekoms Farm. 10.22: First oryx sighting of the day. 10.35: First zebra and kori bustard sightings of the day (private
reserve). Enjoying the beautiful wilderness but aware that B is working hard driving and keeping us safe. Interesting whorls in the rocky hills.
11.10: Drink stop (impossible for B to drink while driving). 11.20: We turn towards red dunes in the distance. 11.35: See ostrich family with 9 chicks.
Arrive at Sesriem about 12 midday. Decide to camp inside the park gates as then our permit will cover tomorrow as well. The camp is apparently full, although it doesn’t look it, but we accept a place in the overflow camp, which is basically a tree with a number nailed to it. The toilets and showers are a walk away, but we can use ours if we want to. Return to gate-man and tell him what we are doing, show him our permit. Park up.
1pm: Make coffee and lunch. Wash up. Read guide book. Visit shop and buy fruit juice –nothing much of use to us in the shop. Pop into bar – see loaves of bread and ask to buy one. Yes, it is for sale! Check location of ablutions. 2.15: Take a few photos. Shave legs (very rare occurrence) and put on shorts as it is hot for a change. 2.45: Tidy up. Do pre-flight checks.
3pm: Set off for Sossusvlei. Realise that it will be impossible to enjoy sunset at the vlei and get out of the park gates by closing time, so decide to go only as far as Dune 45 instead. 3.40 Stop to take photos of dunes etc and look at ripply pebbles all over the place. 3.55 Park at Dune 45 (we thought at the time). We walked the few hundred yards to the dune, looking at various animal tracks in the sand and generally admiring the scenery and the colours changing as the sun dropped down.
5.08pm Set off back to the campsite 40ish km away and continue to enjoy the deepening oranges and reds, which eventually changed to pastel shades after the sun was really gone. Today's phrase "Ooh! It's sooo beautiful!"
6pm: Exit the park and head straight for the ablutions, hoping to get there before the hordes of people on the tour buses. Just in time in my case, as the next people into the showers seemed to be running out of hot water.
6.40: Had a glass of something refreshing and looked at the day's photos on the laptop.
7.15: A lazy supper of tinned tuna, Smash with salt and butter, and a bit of salad. Pudding of ginger cake for B and dates for me.
7.50: Wash up and put away. Slather myself with E45 as my skin is all dried out.
8.30pm: Bed and sleep. We are getting up at 4.45 tomorrow.
6am: Alarm goes off. Put heater on. 6.30: Get up and wrap up warm. Make the coffee. Put up the table (inside).
Have breakfast with B, visit ablutions block and ask
member of staff to light donkey so B can have a shower. Have a quick wash in the kitchen sink and dress. Tidy away stuff we have left around inside and out. Dry the dishes etc and put them away. Collect dry laundry from line, fold and put it away. Put drinks and other
items for the journey into “cab-bag”. Do my bits of the “pre-flight checks”. Put on boots and visit the bathroom.
8.45: Set off. 8.50: See pale chanting goshawk and a striped polecat eating roadkill.
9.03: See secretary bird. All day - clouds of small birds lifting up as we passed. Think they are mostly sociable weavers. Huge weaver nests/colonies in many of the trees.
9.06: First springbok sighting of the day. This group all start pronking (look it up) as we go by. Start to see a few random red dunes. All day beautiful arid vistas. Purple road, bleached grass, dotted green trees. Horizon of hazy rocky hills. Road signs saying “wind”, “sand”. Farm animals. 9.11: First ostrich sighting of the day.
9.45: Junction and a discussion about route. We take the C27. Terrible road: bumpy and noisy – we can’t hear each other speak. An endurance test. I have to hold on to my boobs.
10.10: Now in the rocky hills. Pee and drink stop outside Toekoms Farm. 10.22: First oryx sighting of the day. 10.35: First zebra and kori bustard sightings of the day (private
reserve). Enjoying the beautiful wilderness but aware that B is working hard driving and keeping us safe. Interesting whorls in the rocky hills.
11.10: Drink stop (impossible for B to drink while driving). 11.20: We turn towards red dunes in the distance. 11.35: See ostrich family with 9 chicks.
Arrive at Sesriem about 12 midday. Decide to camp inside the park gates as then our permit will cover tomorrow as well. The camp is apparently full, although it doesn’t look it, but we accept a place in the overflow camp, which is basically a tree with a number nailed to it. The toilets and showers are a walk away, but we can use ours if we want to. Return to gate-man and tell him what we are doing, show him our permit. Park up.
1pm: Make coffee and lunch. Wash up. Read guide book. Visit shop and buy fruit juice –nothing much of use to us in the shop. Pop into bar – see loaves of bread and ask to buy one. Yes, it is for sale! Check location of ablutions. 2.15: Take a few photos. Shave legs (very rare occurrence) and put on shorts as it is hot for a change. 2.45: Tidy up. Do pre-flight checks.
3pm: Set off for Sossusvlei. Realise that it will be impossible to enjoy sunset at the vlei and get out of the park gates by closing time, so decide to go only as far as Dune 45 instead. 3.40 Stop to take photos of dunes etc and look at ripply pebbles all over the place. 3.55 Park at Dune 45 (we thought at the time). We walked the few hundred yards to the dune, looking at various animal tracks in the sand and generally admiring the scenery and the colours changing as the sun dropped down.
5.08pm Set off back to the campsite 40ish km away and continue to enjoy the deepening oranges and reds, which eventually changed to pastel shades after the sun was really gone. Today's phrase "Ooh! It's sooo beautiful!"
6pm: Exit the park and head straight for the ablutions, hoping to get there before the hordes of people on the tour buses. Just in time in my case, as the next people into the showers seemed to be running out of hot water.
6.40: Had a glass of something refreshing and looked at the day's photos on the laptop.
7.15: A lazy supper of tinned tuna, Smash with salt and butter, and a bit of salad. Pudding of ginger cake for B and dates for me.
7.50: Wash up and put away. Slather myself with E45 as my skin is all dried out.
8.30pm: Bed and sleep. We are getting up at 4.45 tomorrow.